Chapter 704

Or Worse

The operation and clean up at the old newspaper plant wound down. It was just a matter of getting all the equipment out of there if they could. They knew they only were going to have a limited amount of time. Since they didn't know the full extent of the operation. They didn't know when the alarm would be sounded. All communications were blocked. They knew there could still be Grays out there who could stumble onto what they were doing at any time.

Cam was in charge at the old newspaper plant. She made a quick inspection of what remained.

"The last truck is loaded." Cam said. "There's still more machinery here, a bunch of bodies, and the two HK Treads."

John was sure they were working against the clock. He wanted to clear out as soon as possible.

"I want our people out." John said. "We need to torch the place."

Cam looked over the two HK Treads. They seemed to be the only 'problem' remaining.

"We can load the HK Treads in the boxcars if we have to." Cam said. "We can move the boxcars outside the fence onto the main spur track before it crosses the small bridge over the wash."

John Henry already checked the availability of the giant helicopter.

"I have access to the S-64 Skycrane." John Henry said. "It can move the HK Treads, one at a time."

John was worried about attracting 'lookiloos'. The helicopter was very noisy. He thought perhaps they could do something with the boxcars and John Henry could take control of their destination.

"The Skycrane is very loud. There are too many people who could see what we were moving." John said. "You can redirect the destination of the two boxcars to a more remote location and we can retrieve the HK Treads there."

John Henry already made plans to follow John's directive. He thought they should delay torching the building because the boxcars would still be parked outside the fence waiting for pick up the next day. They didn't want any officials sniffing around the boxcars to see what was inside of them at a burned out building.

"I've already done so." John Henry said. "Maybe we should wait a day before burning the building. We can set up surveillance and see who comes to check it out. It might prove more productive than a group of firefighters milling about the remains."

John questioned the success of them doing it. It never seemed to pay any dividends. The enemy never seemed to return to locations they took down and put under surveillance.

"No one ever has gone back when we've done it previously." John said. "At least from what we ever saw or detected anyway. They may have been able to detect our surveillance and decided to avoid the site. They would probably do so at the current location as well. We don't really know what went down."

They never knew if it was because they eliminated all the Grays on a particular operation, or the Grays cut their losses and wrote the location off. It was possible if some version of Skynet was involved it determined once a location was known, it would always be known. Whatever the reason was, no one ever showed back up.

It briefly occurred to John CamNet may have detected someone and not allowed John Henry to know. Cameron may have handled the situation on her own. Somehow the more he thought of it, the more likely it seemed. He pushed the thoughts from his mind. He needed to concentrate on where everyone was at now.

They were pretty sure they were dealing with multiple versions of Skynet at times.

Cam anticipated the building being burned. It would have taken care of the bodies. They always made sure the fire would burn hot enough to incinerate them completely. A little Thermite always seemed tho help. Now they were presented with a new problem. They would need to do something.

"What about the bodies?" Cam said. "We normally burn them."

John could see how one problem created another. Maybe they needed to do some creative thinking. He didn't know if they needed the situation immediately, or they could wait another day to do so. There was one way to remove the bodies from the building, at least temporarily.

"We can load them in one of the boxcars with an HK Tread." John said. "We can deal with them later."

Cam looked around the interior of the building. There was still a lot of machinery inside.

"Do you want the rest of the equipment out?" Cam asked. "There are still a lot of things here."

John felt they already overstayed their welcome. The longer they were there, the more likely they were to run into Skynet forces of some type. There is no need to have the enemy ambush them when they left this facility or attempt to follow them to see where they went.

"No, I want our people out." John said. "We're pushing our luck. There are other situations we need to attend to as well."

Cam figured with all the machinery left behind, they should leave a little 'present' for any Grays who came snooping around to see what happened to their operation.

"Do you want any booby traps set?" Cam asked.

John thought about it for a few seconds. Since they were going to set up surveillance, maybe they could track somebody to another location they missed. It was what they always hoped to do at the other locations they surveilled.

"Negative." John said. "If anyone shows up, we want to try to follow them. I want them tracked to wherever they go. We need to know where they stop, and what else they do before they're terminated."

Based on the size of the operation they took down so far, and where Cameron was at, it was a pretty good bet they were going to miss a few Grays and maybe a Terminator during the entire process. There could be people in transit from any of the locations, to another location who went somewhere else along the way first. Once they spotted one of the buildings on fire, they would become alarmed. They probably wouldn't approach any of the other locations directly until sometime later. They wanted to find out where they went.

"We'll finish up and be out of here soon." Cam said.

Cam thought they should take more of the equipment from the assembly lines. She knew Cameron wanted it very much to start her own assembly lines. What they really needed was the ability to make more Terminators. They wanted total control over them from start to finish. She knew Cameron wanted to do like Mrs. Weaver did with the Restorators. She created more cyborgs who were never under Skynet control.

She briefly wondered what models Cameron would select for the sheaths if they established their own Terminator production line. She really hoped Cameron wouldn't keep making more copies of herself. It already seemed like a big enough problem as it was. She wasn't sure who the bigger Bitch was, Cameron or Cammy. She knew she wasn't one. She didn't have the same contentious attitude.

Cam was sure the main issue between Cameron and Cammy was Savannah. Vanna was the one she was assigned to. Even though Vanna was a different timeline version of Savannah Weaver, it wasn't the one Cameron wanted. For her she knew it was a good thing. She also wanted Vanna to have whatever she wanted. She knew it was Allison. There was always a lot of apprehension over how things would play out going forward. Vanna and Allison would always need to be protected. She could always change her sheath to a different individual. She figured the more time Allison and Vanna spend together, the more time Holly and her would spend together. It all seemed to work out quite well so far.

Cameron moved down the gap between two buildings toward the HK Track. Anna remained at the far end of the buildings to watch for anyone approaching. There was still the possibility there could be a foot patrol in addition to the Jeep patrol. The sound of the Jeep would give them a little advance warning. Also cover the distance and a much greater rate of speed than a foot patrol could. The foot patrol could advance silently without any warning until it showed up. Anna would warn her, but there wouldn't really be anywhere for her to go.

They didn't want to get stuck between the HK Track and a patrol. Depending on where they may be forced to run to, the observation posts on the hillside in back of them could spot their movements. They really needed to operate within some tight parameters and pay attention to everything happening around them. It determined how they could move and when they could move.

She carried a 'sticky shocker' with her. It was in her hand as she approached the HK Track. It still faced out into the open area between the buildings. She was almost up to it when it started to pivot to face her. It wasn't what she wanted to see. She needed to act fast and she needed to act now. She didn't want it to send out some type of warning, or broadcaster image anywhere.

Cameron moved quickly and tossed the 'stick shocker' onto the side of the HK Track as it continued to turn to face her. It took a jolt of electricity. It stopped moving. She moved around it and peeked around the corner. No one was in sight. She quickly opened an access panel and started to reprogram the HK Track. When she was done, the HK Track returned to the position it was previously in. If everything worked right, it was now on their team. It took a little longer than she anticipated. She looked towards Anna to get her attention.

"OK, Anna, it's done." Cameron said.

Anna nodded. She realized they were falling behind schedule. She wanted to do something to speed up the procedure to check the buildings. It was going to require a slight change in their original plans.

"Cameron, I'll check the building on the east side and you check the one on the west side." Anna said. "We will still be close enough where we can come to the aid of the other one if it's necessary. It's doubtful if someone is after one of us, they will pay much attention to what is happening behind them. They will think the area they left is clear. They won't know one of us is actually there."

Anna headed over to the east side building. She tried the door. It was latched like the others they encountered. Only Cameron carried the screwdriver. She looked for an alternate method of entry. She knew there was one weak spot at most locations, including private residences, where burglars and robbers were usually able to gain entry. It was the bathroom window. Often it was left open for obvious reasons. There was what appeared to be a bathroom window. It was 'frosted' and she couldn't see inside. It was locked as well. She was a little disappointed at what should have been an entry point. She moved further along the side.

She spotted something different. It stood out from the surrounding area. There was a raw unpainted piece of plywood which covered over what looked like a repair to the wall in one spot. It was a crude patch. She pulled gently on the plywood and pried it loose from the wall. Whoever put the plywood patch on used nails instead of screws. The nails were very easy to pull loose. She was able to get down low and look inside the structure. It appeared a forklift at one time punctured the wall there. What she could see was only emptiness inside. She moved the plywood back over to where it was and pushed the nails back in with her thumb.

Anna's building was empty.

Cameron's was not. When she entered her building, it wasn't quite what she expected.

With what Cameron just found, the operation appeared to be bigger than they thought.

Cam and Ally worked on the HK Treads.

They knew they would move them soon. Their goal was to move them into one of the boxcars. They needed to make sure they were in total control of them. They're autonomous feature was disconnected to prevent any type of accidental reversion to its Skynet programming.

Ally was a little bored. She wanted to spice things up a little bit.

"I'll race you." Ally said.

Cam didn't even look over at her. It wasn't part of her plan. She was very focused on the overall operation. She didn't have time for any nonsense.

"Hardly…." Cam said. "We need to do what we can and clear out. John wants us out of here as soon as possible."

Ally thought if they raced the HK Treads to the boxcar, it would be as fast as possible. There was no need to point it out to Cam. She didn't want to need to deal with some negative version of 'Cameron'.

Cam and Ally each climbed into their reprogrammed HK Tread. Ally took off and headed for the first boxcar and Cam headed for the second one. It was a noisy and impressive sight to see the two big killing machines follow each other.

Sheila was with Steve at the boxcars waiting for them. They could hear them clanking over towards them.

Sheila previously looked out the open door of the building at the closest boxcar. There was a small black box painted on the side of it. It was full of lettering and numbers. It gave the specs and limits of the boxcar. She thought about the two HK Tracks and the pile of stacked bodies of all the terminated Grays.

"I think they both can fit in one boxcar." Sheila said. "It won't exceed the weight limit of the boxcar. Even if it was over by twenty percent, we all know the design could be exceeded to accept it."

Steve quickly did the calculations as well. It seemed like a good idea. They could take care of two things at one time. He thought it was a way they would only need to handle the terminated Grays one time.

"We can leave the bodies of the Grays in the second one then." Steve said. "They will be 'ripe' in a few days."

The boxcar full of bodies would be sealed and soon start warming up from the sun the next day. The dead Grays inside would heat up. It would speed the decomposition process. It was bound to give off a foul odor. It would be detected at some point by someone. There was no way to make the boxcar airtight. They hoped as long as the boxcar was moving it wouldn't be a problem.

He thought about the tank car of corn syrup he spotted earlier. If the tank car were empty they could put the bodies into it and make a more airtight seal. Depending upon the actual size of the opening on top, they might need to remove the dome to put the bodies inside. They didn't have the tank car there so it didn't really matter what the situation was.

Sheila climbed up on Ally's HK Tread and told her the new plan. She went to Cam's HK Tread and did the same. Both HK Treads were soon loaded and secured into one boxcar. They were each parked over the truck assembly which contained the two axles and four wheels for each end of the boxcar. The load was balanced with even weight distribution.

Cam looked at the boxcar with the two HK Treads in it. She didn't have a good feeling about leaving it at the scene of where it was captured. It seemed even more insecure if they were to push it outside the fence, and stop it before the small bridge which crossed over the flood control channel. She wanted to say something to express her concern.

"Are we leaving anyone here tonight?" Cam asked. "What happens if a Gray or a Terminator penetrates our security and reprograms the HK Treads? We would need to face them all over again. I already needed to do it once. I'm not looking for a repeat performance."

John Henry knew they were going to have to have personnel on the scene for the pickup tomorrow by the switcher. He didn't want to send up any red flags because something 'looked' different. He was aware as long as things were routine no one paid much attention to them. It was only when they were different when it made people start to question things.

"We'll need someone to open the gate tomorrow when the switcher comes." John Henry said. "If we want to have everything 'look' the same."

Steve felt the same concerns as Cam. He could stay and act as the 'night watchman' and make sure the load stayed secure. He could also open the gate tomorrow when the switcher arrived. He would simply bend a link in the chain, rather than break the lock. He could always bend the link closed when they were done.

"I can stay inside of the boxcar tonight." Steve said. "We still need to consider the possibility of some type of an attack either on the building, or the boxcars, or both."

John began to second guess all of their recent decisions. What was to prevent Skynet from trying to cover up what actually went on in the building? They might decide to torch the building themselves and destroy everything associated with it. Steve pointed out a real possibility. He didn't want to put any of their Terminators at risk.

"What if they send an HK drone or a fleet of HK drones?" John asked. "They might want to clean up their mess. They may attack the building and boxcars to cover up what they actually did there."

John Henry was a little surprised when he received a communication from CamNet. It appeared someone did a little thinking 'outside of the box'.

"CamNet has informed me there are two 'Wide Load' flatbed trucks available for us to use." John Henry said. "They're unloading the 'Earth Movers' which were on them now."

John could see the merit to the idea. It would give them better and direct control of the HK Treads. They could be taken directly for inspection and evaluation before they were added to the stockpiles of the captured Skynet equipment.

"It will be dark enough to load the HK Treads and cover them with tarps soon." John said. "I want our people away from there. What's their ETA?"

John Henry already made the calculations.

"Thirty minutes." John Henry said.

John wanted to get everything staged so it was ready to load. They would have to move the HK Treads to the west side of the structure.

"Get everything ready to move." John said. "Move the HK Treads to the truck loading dock on the other side of the building."

Steve looked at the boxcar full of terminated Grays.

"What about the bodies?" Steve asked. "They're all loaded in one boxcar."

John Henry already did some research as to where he wanted the destination to be. There was a lot of smuggling which came up from south of the border. Much of it was human trafficking. There was more than one reported incident of dead bodies being found in freight cars of various types, and truck trailers in northern Mexico.

"I can redirect the boxcar south of the border." John Henry said. "Once it is in a yard there, I'll show it to have arrived from a location further south. There will be no trace of it having been in the USA for over a month. It will look like a battle between local drug lords. There are many of those south of the border and they cover up most of them because of the bad publicity. They don't want it to dampen any of the tourism. They hide the fact of how unsafe it really is there for tourists."

John remembered what it was like with his limited experience south of the border and Central America. The entire region was unsafe for anyone but the strongest drug gang at the time. Often they would turn on their own members if they were suspected of thievery or conspiring with a rival drug gang. The person accused usually faced a violent and torturous death. There was seldom any evidence required to enact such a penalty. It just took an accusation from another drug gang member. Someone who looked too long at someone's girlfriend, or won too often gambling, could easily get a target painted on their back by a sore loser or jealous lover.

He couldn't help but think about his adventure' with Riley. It wasn't just a coincidence he booked the Honeymoon Suite. He planned to use it as such with Riley. Even in a small town he ran into trouble with people trying to blackmail him. It was a mistake for him to go to the same town he lived in previously. He wasn't thinking clearly about a lot of things at the time. He knew it was the case of letting the little head do the thinking for the big head. He pushed the thoughts from his mind.

"Make it happen." John said. "It will cover up a lot of things."

John liked it when they could divert attention and blame as far away from them as possible. John Henry and CamNet were experts at it. It was something they needed to do quite often. They needed to cover up a lot of Cameron's 'handiwork'.

Allison was bored now as her operation wound down. She kept checking on Young Allison to see what was going on with her monitors. It was where the next action would take place.

"What's happening with Cameron?" Allison asked.

Young Allison glanced over at Allison. She didn't want her to get distracted until all of the personnel and equipment was away from the old newspaper plant. Until everyone was safely away, and they made sure that no one was tailed, the operation wasn't over.

"Cameron's found something. I'll deal with it." Young Allison said. "Stay with your operation until it's concluded. There are still things which could go wrong."

Allison checked the surveillance cameras which were put into place, along with the body cams of the Terminators who were still there at the location.

"I am." Allison said. "Nothing's happening. They're loading two HK Treads onto some big flatbed trucks."

Young Allison didn't want to snap at Allison. She did want to inform her sternly to pay attention until everything was done. She already indicated she should do so.

"When 'nothing' is happening, is when it does. Everyone's guard is down." Young Allison said. "Stay on it."

Young Allison was worried about Cameron. She knew Cameron was going to need more help.

Earlier:

When Anna went to check out her building, Cameron went to check out hers.

Cameron saw some windows in a second floor office area of the building she wanted to enter. She looked around and climbed up on the HK Track. She stood on top of the HK Track to reach an overhang, and climbed up to the second level. She took a quick look around to make sure no one spotted her or that an alarm was raised. She didn't think anyone would shoot at her if they saw her climb up on top of the HK Track. Everything looked clear so far. She turned her attention to the windows.

She was able to force open a second story window in the old office section of the building she selected. She double checked it for alarms and found none.

The old office area was empty and very dusty. Cameron moved to an interior window which overlooked the workroom floor. The interior was dark. She used several of her different Terminator vision spectrums. She was a little concerned at what she viewed. There were rows of containers lined up. There were a lot of them.

"Anna, come up here and join me." Cameron said.

She gave Anna instructions on how to enter the way she did. She also warned her to take a good look around here before she made her move up on top of the HK Track. She didn't want her spotted. She didn't want the enemy to know where they were. There were still other buildings they needed to inspect.

Anna arrived a few minutes later. She went down to the lower floor where Cameron already descended to. She looked around the cavernous space of the building.

"There are a lot of containers here." Anna said.

They spoke at a very low decibel level only another Terminator could hear. They didn't know what or who else was inside the building with them yet. They knew it was going to make some noise as each container was opened. There was really no way around it.

"There's too many." Cameron said. "Let's make sure there's no one in here before we start to open the containers."

They swept the interior of the building and found no one.

They opened the first container and were surprised. They moved quickly down the row of containers. They found the same thing. It wasn't what Cameron expected.

Savannah was very worried about Cameron and Anna. She looked up into the sky. She contacted the Command Center.

"John, it's dark enough to send some drones." Savannah said. "I have two on standby from CamNet ready to scramble."

John still thought it was a little early.

"Do we want them there yet?" John asked.

Savannah wondered if she should have just bypassed the Command Center and acted directly through CamNet. She understood why Cameron often did so. She didn't need anyone to second guess the operation when she was the one on the ground.

"Cameron and Anna are in there alone." Savannah said. "I think John Henry should send a few more. It will take them a while to get here."

John wondered how the ones Savannah indicated were ready to go could get there sooner than the ones John Henry could send. It made him wonder if there were some daylight movement of the drones anyway. He thought Savannah would use more restraint. He didn't think they would do the same from the Young bunker. Either way, he knew CamNet would back both Savannah's or Young Allison's play without question.

"Where are the ones you have ready to go located at?" John asked.

Savannah quickly understood the real nature of John's question. She smiled to herself.

"Cameron left two staged at the desert base we used for the Palm Springs operation." Savannah said. "I only found out about them earlier from CamNet. Cameron sent a team to build a structure to hide them and she has one of her Terminators there as an attendant. She wasn't convinced things weren't completely wrapped up in the Palm Springs area."

John wasn't surprised. He was actually glad for Cameron's foresight in this particular matter. It wasn't always the case. He didn't always like the way she did things.

"I'm sure Cameron has several things going on we don't know all the details of." John said. "I know she's trying to protect all of us."

Savannah didn't think John should worry too much about the details of what Cameron did. She was going to do them anyway. She knew he could check their position but she wanted to update him anyway as to exactly where they were at.

"It's best not to worry about it. We're currently one mile from the entrance to where Cameron's at. We're parked between two buildings." Savannah said. "We can be there in less than two minutes. What's the status of more help?"

"I have eight Terminators about to board the Blackhawk." John said. "The other operation has concluded for now. They just left with two HK Treads for a secure location. Everyone has pulled out and we left some surveillance behind."

Savannah knew they could use the extra help. She knew it was only a matter of time until the attack started. The question was now how soon could they be there?

"What's their ETA?" Savannah asked.

John Henry couldn't give her an exact time but only a close approximation.

"Fifty-five to sixty minutes." John Henry said.

Savannah reflected on her earlier conversation with Cameron about additional help.

"I want to find out from Cameron where she wants them." Savannah said. "My guess will be on the backside of the hill from the old mill. They will be let off a few miles back and come in the back way over the top of the hills. We have the front covered. The Blackhawk can land next to the Huey at the local airport and one of the pilots can take over it for extraction. It will give us two helicopters if we need them."

John was a little disgusted at the way the operation was progressing. It was being done in typical 'Cameron Style' with no planning. Events usually happened minute by minute.

"There is no planning on this." John said. "Everything about this operation is just unfolding before us."

Savannah didn't think it should seem like a surprise to John, nor should he dwell on it. Cameron was the one on the ground and she would call the shots as she saw they were necessary and when they were necessary. It seemed to her the other operation unfolded as it went along. She didn't want to make a big deal about it, but did want to mention it. Cameron was currently on a recon. She hadn't initiated any combat yet.

"The battlefield is fluid to her." Savannah said. "You didn't have much time to plan anything at the old newspaper plant either. With Cameron, is there ever much planning?"

John didn't want to seem like he was going to 'rag' on Savannah.

"Seldom…." John said.

He also thought about who the lead Terminator was on the operation at the old newspaper plant. It was 'Cameron', even if it was Cam. The apple didn't seem to fall far from the tree.

Savannah was a little concerned with the time lag since she last communicated with Cameron.

"I'm still trying to reach her." Savannah said. "She hasn't responded for a while now. She's trying to remain 'low key' so she shouldn't be faulted for it. She may still be 'dark'."

John couldn't help but point out another obvious outcome.

"Or worse…." John said.

Savannah didn't really care for John's comment. She did understand it was a real possibility. It always was a real possibility.

"We haven't heard any shooting yet." Savannah said. "If we did, we would roll."

Savannah was worried more than ever now. She knew if anyone could pull this off, it was Cameron.

"Is there any other way Cameron can contact you?" John asked.

Savannah smiled to herself.

"She could always send up smoke signals." Savannah said.

John wasn't sure he heard her correctly. He thought it was something some ancient indigenous groups used to signal each other with.

"What?" John asked.

Closing monologue by Cameron:

I Have A Job Too

Life can offer one
Many a choice
The question is
Will one have a voice

There are some things
One would rather not do
The question is
What about you

Things can get messy
All life ends in death
The question is
Did one wisely use their breath

What goes up
Must come down
The question is
In what not to drown

When you think I'm cold
Why do I do what I do
The answer is
I have a job too

Nobody